Attorney General: Augustus H. Garland
Augustus Hill Garland was born in Covington, Tennessee, on June 11, 1832. He graduated from Saint Joseph’s College in Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1849. Garland later read law, was admitted to the bar in 1853, and joined his stepfather’s law firm in Washington, Arkansas. He moved to Little Rock in 1856. In 1861, he was elected to the convention considering whether Arkansas should secede from the Union and, subsequently, to the Confederate House of Representatives. Elevated to the Confederate Senate in 1864, Garland remained there until the end of the Civil War. Pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in July 1865, Garland returned to the practice of law in Little Rock. Garland was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1866 but was not permitted to take his seat as Arkansas had not been readmitted to the Union. In 1874, he served as acting secretary of state for Arkansas, and in the same year, was elected Governor of that state. Garland was elected to the U.S. Senate without opposition in 1876, and again in his reelection in 1883.
President Grover Cleveland appointed Garland as Attorney General of the United States on March 6, 1885. He held that post through the remainder of Cleveland’s administration, after which he established a law practice in Washington, D.C. He died on January 26, 1899, while arguing a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Born in Frankenstein, Germany, in 1821, Henry Ulke was compelled to leave his home country after being captured while serving with Revolutionary forces during the German revolutions of 1848-1849. He emigrated to New York City and later settled in Washington, D.C., where he found employment as an illustrator and designer. Ulke painted many portraits of senior government officials. He painted the portrait of Attorney General Garland in 1889. He died in 1910.